contract in Scotland. The contractors, rather than admit into their partnership a person whom he had recommended for that purpose, chose to present his friend with five hundred pounds. Their bill was addressed to Mr. Walpole, who endorsed it, and his friend touched the money. [See note 2 G, at the end of this Vol.] This transaction was interpreted into a bribe. Mr. Walpole was expelled the house. Being afterwards re-chosen by the same borough of Lynn-Regis, which he had before represented, a petition was lodged against him, and the commons voted him incapable of being elected a member to serve in the present parliament. and they suspected that his real aim was to manage intrigues among the discontented party who opposed the peace. Nevertheless, he was treated with that respect which was due to his quality and eminent talents. The ministers, the nobility, and officers of distinction, visited him at his arrival. He was admitted to an audience of the queen, who received him with great complacency. Having perused the letter which he delivered, she ex-voted guilty of corruption, imprisoned in the Tower, and pressed her concern that her health did not permit her to speak with his highness as often as she could wish; but that she had ordered the treasurer and secretary St. John to receive his proposals, and confer with him as frequently as he should think proper. He expressed extraordinary respect for the duke of Marlborough, notwithstanding his disgrace. The lord-treasurer, while he entertained him at dinner, declared that he looked upon that day as the happiest in the whole course of his life, since he had the honour to see in his house the greatest captain of the age. The prince is said to have replied, "If I am, it is owing to your lordship." Alluding to the disgrace of Marlborough, whom the earl's intrigues had deprived of all military command. When bishop Burnet conversed with him about the scandalous libels that were every day published against the duke, and in particular mentioned one paragraph, in which the author allowed he had been once fortunate, the prince observed, it was the greatest commendation that could be bestowed upon him, as it implied that all his other successes were owing to his courage and conduct. While the nobility of both parties vied with each other in demonstrations of respect for this noble stranger; while he was adored by the whigs, and admired by the people, who gazed at him in crowds when he appeared in public; even in the midst of all these caresses, party riots were excited to insult his person, and some scandalous reflections upon his mother were inserted in one of the public papers. The queen treated him with distinguished marks of regard; and, on her birth-day, presented him with a sword worth five thousand pounds. Nevertheless, she looked upon him as a patron and friend of that turbulent faction to which she owed so much disquiet. She knew he had been pressed to come over by the whig noblemen, who hoped his presence would inflame the people to some desperate attempt upon the new ministry; she was not ignorant that he held private conferences with the duke of Marlborough, the earl of Sunderland, the lord Somers, Halifax, and all the chiefs of that party; and that he entered into a close connexion with the baron de Bothmar, the Hanoverian envoy, who had been very active in fomenting the disturbances of the people. WALPOLE EXPELLED. Her majesty, who had been for some time afflicted with the gout, sent a message to both houses on the seventeenth day of January, signifying that the plenipotentiaries were arrived at Utrecht; and that she was employed in making preparations for an early campaign; she hoped, therefore, that the commons would proceed in giving the necessary despatch to the supplies. The lord-treasurer, in order to demonstrate his attachment to the protestant succession, brought in a bill which had been proposed by the duke of Devonshire, giving precedence to the whole electoral family, as children and nephews of the crown; and, when it was passed into an act, he sent it over to Hanover by Mr. Thomas Harley. The sixteen peers for Scotland were prevailed upon, by promise of satisfaction, to resume their seats in the upper house, from which they had absented themselves since the decision against the patent of the duke of Hamilton; but whatever pecuniary recompence they might have obtained from the court, on which they were meanly dependent, they received no satisfaction from the parliament. The commons, finding Mr. Walpole very troublesome in their house, by his talents, activity, and zealous attachment to the whig interest, found means to discover some clandestine practices in which he was concerned as secretary at war, with regard to the forage. Their next attack was upon the duke of Marlborough, who was found to have received a yearly sum from sir Solomon Medina, a Jew, concerned in the contract for furnishing the army with bread; to have been gratified by the queen with ten thousand pounds a-year to defray the expenses of intelligence; and to have pocketed a deduction of two and a half per cent. from the pay of the foreign troops maintained by England. It was alleged, in his justification, that the present from the Jew was a customary perquisite, which had always been enjoyed by the general of the Dutch army; that the deduction of two and a half per cent. was granted to him by an express warrant from her majesty; that all the articles of the charge joined together did not exceed thirty thousand pounds, a sum much inferior to that which had been allowed to king William for contingencies; that the money was expended in procuring intelligence, which was so exact that the duke was never surprised; that none of his parties were ever intercepted or cut off; and all the designs were by these means so well concerted, that he never once miscarried. Notwithstanding these representations, the majority voted that his practices had been unwarrantable and illegal; and that the deduction was to be accounted for as public money. These resolutions were communicated to the queen, who ordered the attorney-general to prosecute the duke for the money he had deducted by virtue of her own warrant. Such practices were certainly mean and mercenary, and greatly tarnished the glory which the duke had acquired by his military talents, and other shining qualities. RESOLUTIONS AGAINST THE BARRIER TREATY AND THE DUTCH. The commons now directed the stream of their resentment against the Dutch, who had certainly exerted all their endeavours to overwhelm the new ministry, and retard the negotiations for peace. They maintained an intimate correspondence with the whigs of England. They diffused the most invidious reports against Oxford and secretary St. John. Buys, their envoy at London, acted the part of an incendiary, in suggesting violent measures to the malcontents, and caballing against the government. The ministers, by way of reprisal, influenced the house of commons to pass some acrimonious resolutions against the states-general. They alleged that the states had been deficient in their proportion of troops, both in Spain and in the Netherlands, during the whole course of the war; and that the queen had paid above three millions of crowns in subsidies, above what she was obliged to advance by her engagements. They attacked the barrier-treaty, which had been concluded with the states by lord Townshend after the conferences at Gertruydenburgh. By this agreement, England guaranteed a barrier in the Netherlands to the Dutch; and the states bound themselves to maintain, with their whole force, the queen's title and the protestant succession. The tories affirmed that England was disgraced by engaging any other state to defend a succession which the nation might see cause to alter; that, by this treaty, the states were authorized to interpose in British councils; that, being possessed of all those strong towns, they might exclude the English from trading to them, and interfere with the manufactures of Great Britain. The house of commons voted, that in the barrier-treaty 1 CHAPTER XI. The Conferences opened at Utrecht--The Queen's Measures obstructed by the the empire and the other allies likewise sent their plenipotentiaries, though not without reluctance. As all Allen-Death of the Dauphin and his Son-The Queen demands Philip's these powers, except France, entertained sentiments Renunciation of the Crown of France--The Duke of Ormond takes the Command of the British Forces in Flanders-He is restricted from acting against the Enemy--Debate in the House of Lords on this Subject--A loyal Address of the Commons--- Philip promises to renounce the Crown of France-The Queen communicates the Plan of the Peace in a Speech to both Houses of Parliament--Exceptions taken to some of the Articles in the House of Lords--A motion for a Guaranty of the Protestant Succession by the Allies rejected in the House of Commons-The Duke of Ormond very different from those of her Britannic majesty, the conferences seemed calculated rather to retard than accelerate a pacification. The queen of England had foreseen and provided against these difficulties. Her great declares to Prince Eugene, that he can no longer cover the siege of Quesnoy end was to free her subjects from the miseries attending Irruption into France by General Grovestein--The Foreign Troops in British pay refuse to march with the Duke of Ormond, who proclaims a Cessation of Arms, and seizes Ghent and Bruges--The Allies defeated at Denain -Progress of the Conferences at Utrecht-The Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun are killed in a Duel--The Duke of Marlborough retires to the become more tractable--The Peace with France signed at Utrecht--Both Continent- The States-general sign the Barrier-treaty-The other Allies Houses of Parliament congratulate the Queen on the Peace-Substance of the Treaty with FranceObjections to the Treaty of Commerce--Debates move for a Bill to dissolve the Union--Address of the Commons about DunIreland-New Parliament in England-Writers employed by both Parties -Treaty of Rastadt between the Emperor and France-Principal Articles in the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain-Meeting of the Parliament The House of Lords takes Cognizance of a Libel against the ScotsMr. Steel expelled the House of Commons-Precautions by the Whigs for the Security of the Protestant Succession-Debates in the House of Lords concerning the Pretender and the Catalans-They Address the Queen to set a Price on the Head of the Pretender-A Writ demanded for the Elec in the House of Lords on the Malt-tax for Scotland-The Scottish Lords kirk-Violence of Parties in England--Proceedings of the Parliament of toral Prince of Hanover, as Duke of Cambridge--Death of the Princess should list, or be enlisted, in a Foreign Service-The Parliament prorogued The Treasurer disgraced--Precautions taken for securing the Peace of the Kingdom-Death and Character of Queen Anne. Sophia Bill to prevent the growth of Schism-Another against all who CONFERENCES OPENED AT UTRECHT. 1712. IN N the month of January the conferences for peace began at Utrecht. The earl of Jersey would have been appointed the plenipotentiary for England, but he dying after the correspondence with the court of France was established, the queen conferred that charge upon Robinson, bishop of Bristol, lord privy-seal, and the earl of Strafford. The chief of the Dutch deputies named for the congress, were Buys and Vanderdussen; the French king granted his powers to the mareschal D'Uxelles, the abbot (afterwards cardinal) de Polignac, and Menager, who had been in England. The ministers of the emperor and Savoy likewise assisted at the conferences, to which an unprofitable war, and to restore peace to Europe; and this aim she was resolved to accomplish in spite of all opposition. She had also determined to procure reasonable terms of accommodation for her allies, without, however, continuing to lavish the blood and treasure of her people in supporting their extravagant demands. The emperor obstinately insisted upon his claim to the whole Spanish monarchy, refusing to give up the least tittle of his pretensions; and the Dutch adhered to the old preliminaries which Louis had formerly rejected. The queen saw that the liberties of Europe would be exposed to much greater danger from an actual union of the Imperial and Spanish crowns in one head of the house of Austria, than from a bare possibility of Spain's being united with France in one branch of the house of Bourbon. She knew by experience the difficulty of dethrong Philip, rooted as he was in the affections of a brave and loyal people; and that a prosecution of this design would serve no purpose but to protract the war, and augment the grievances of the British nation. She was well acquainted with the distresses of the French, which she considered as pledges of their monarch's sincerity. She sought not the total ruin of that people, already reduced to the brink of despair. The dictates of true policy dissuaded her from contributing to her further conquest in that kingdom, which would have proved the source of contention among the allies, depressed the house of Bourbon below the standard of importance which the balance of Europe required it should maintain, and aggrandize the states-general at there were several articles destructive to the trade and as well as the presbyterian clergy, were required to take interest of Great Britain, and therefore highly dishon- the oaths of abjuration, that they might be upon an equal ourable to her majesty; that the lord viscount Town- footing in case of disobedience; for the commons well shend was not authorized to conclude several articles in knew that this condition would be rejected by both from that treaty; that he and all those who had advised its very different motives. In order to exasperate the presbeing ratified were enemies to the queen and kingdom. byterians with further provocations, another act was All their votes were digested into a long representation passed for discontinuing the courts of judicature during presented to the queen, in which they averred that the Christmas holidays, which had never been kept by England, during the war, had been overcharged nine- persons of that persuasion. When this bill was read for teen millions; a circumstance that implied mismanage- the third time, sir David Dalrymple said, "Since the ment or fraud in the old ministry. The states, alarmed house is resolved to make no toleration on the body of at these resolutions, wrote a respectful letter to the this bill, I acquiesce; and only desire it may be intiqueen, representing the necessity of a barrier for the tuled, A bill for establishing jacobitism and immorality." mutual security of England and the United Provinces. The chagrin of the Scottish presbyterians was completed They afterwards drew up a large memorial in vindica- | by a third bill, restoring the right of patronage, which tion of their proceedings during the war; and it was had been taken away when the discipline of the kirk published in one of the English papers. The commons was last established. Prince Eugene having presented immediately voted it a false, scandalous, and malicious a memorial to the queen touching the conduct of the libel, reflecting upon the resolutions of the house; and emperor during the war, and containing a proposal with the printer and publisher were taken into custody, as relation to the affairs of Spain, the queen communicated guilty of a breach of privilege. the scheme to the house of commons, who treated it with the most contemptuous neglect. The prince, finding all his efforts ineffectual, retired to the continent, as much displeased with the ministry, as he had reason to be satisfied with the people of England. The commons having settled the funds for the supplies of the year, amounting to six millions, the treasurer formed the plan of a bill appointing commissioners to examine the value and consideration of all the grants made since the revolution. His design was to make a general resumption; but, as the interest of so many noblemen was concerned, the bill met with a very warm opposition; notwithstanding which it would have certainly passed, had not the duke of Buckingham and the earl of Strafford absented themselves from the house during the debate ACTS UNFAVOURABLE TO THE PRESBYTE- They now repealed the naturalization act. They passed a bill granting a toleration to the episcopal clergy in Scotland, without paying the least regard to a representation from the general assembly to the queen, declaring that the act for securing the presbyterian government was an essential and fundamental condition of the treaty of union. The house, notwithstanding this remonstrance, proceeded with the bill, and inserted a clause prohibiting civil magistrates from executing the sentences of the kirk-judicatories. The episcopal, the expense of Great Britain. As she had borne the chief burden of the war, she had a right to take the lead, and dictate a plan of pacification; at least, she had a right to consult the welfare of her own kingdom, in delivering, by a separate peace, her subjects from those enormous loads which they could no longer sustain; and she was well enough aware of her own consequence, to think she could not obtain advantageous conditions. THE QUEEN'S MEASURES OBSTRUCTED. Such were the sentiments of the queen; and her ministers seem to have acted on the same principles, though perhaps party motives may have helped to influence their conduct. The allies concurred in opposing with all their might any treaty which could not gratify their different views of avarice, interest, and ambition. They practised a thousand little artifices to intimidate the queen, to excite a jealousy of Louis, to blacken the characters of her ministers, to raise and keep up a dangerous ferment among the people, by which her life and government were endangered. She could not fail to resent these efforts, which greatly perplexed her measures, and obstructed her design. Her ministers were sensible of the dangerous predicament in which they stood. The queen's health was much impaired; and the successor countenanced the opposite faction. In case of their sovereign's death, they had nothing to expect but | prosecution and ruin for obeying her commands; they they saw no hope of safety, except in renouncing their principles, and submitting to their adversaries; or else in taking such measures as would hasten the pacification, that the troubles of the kingdom might be appeased, and the people be satisfied with their conduct, before death should deprive them of their sovereign's protection. With this view they advised her to set on foot a private negotiation with Louis, to stipulate certain advantages for her own subjects in a concerted plan of peace; to enter into such mutual confidence with that monarch, as would anticipate all clandestine transactions to her prejudice, and in some measure enable her to prescribe terms for her allies. The plan was judiciously formed; but executed with too much precipitation. The stipulated advantages were not such as she had a right to demand and insist upon; and without all doubt better might have been obtained, had not the obstinacy of the allies abroad, and the violent conduct of the whig faction at home, obliged the ministers to relax in some material poir's, and hasten the conclusion of the treaty. DEATH OF THE DAUPHIN AND HIS SON. The articles being privately regulated between the two courts of London and Versailles, the English plenipotentiaries at Utrecht were furnished with general powers and instructions, being ignorant of the agreement which the queen had made with the French monarch touching the kingdom of Spain, which was indeed the basis of the treaty. This secret plan of negotiation, however, had well nigh been destroyed by some unforeseen events that were doubly afflicting to Louis. The dauphin died of the small-pox in the course of the preceding year, and his title had been conferred upon his son the duke of Burgundy, who now expired on the last day of February, six days after the death of his wife, Mary Adelaide of Savoy. The parents were soon followed to the grave by their eldest offspring the duke of Bretagne, in the sixth year of his age; so that of the duke of Burgundy's children, none remained alive but the duke of Anjou, the late French king, who was at that time a sickly infant. Such a series of calamities could not fail of being extremely shocking to Louis in his old age; but they were still more alarming to the queen of England, who saw that nothing but the precarious life of an unhealthy child divided the two monarchies of France and Spain, the union of which she resolved by all possible means to prevent. She therefore sent the abbé Gualtier to Paris, with a memorial representing the danger to which the liberty of Europe would be exposed, should Philip ascend the throne of France; and demanding that his title should be transferred to his brother the duke of Berry, in consequence of his pure, simple, and voluntary renunciation. THE QUEEN DEMANDS PHILIPS RENUNCIA TION OF THE CROWN. Meanwhile the French plenipotentiaries at Utrecht were prevailed upon to deliver their proposals in writing, under the name of specific offers, which the allies received with indignation. They were treated in England with universal scorn. Lord Halifax, in the house of peers, termed them trifling, arrogant, and injurious to her majesty and her allies. An address was presented to the queen, in which they expressed their resentment against the insolence of France, and promised to assist her with all their power in prosecuting the war until a safe and honourable peace should be obtained. The plenipotentiaries of the allies were not less extravagant in their specific demands, than the French had been arrogant in their offers. In a word, the ministers seemed to have been assembled at Utrecht rather to start new difficulties, and widen the breach, than to heal animosities and concert a plan of pacification. They amused one another with fruitless conferences, while the queen of Great Britain endeavoured to engage the states-general in her measures, that they might treat with France upon moderate terms, and give law to the rest of the allies. She departed from some of her own pretensions, in order to gratify them with the possession of some towns in Flanders She consented to their being admitted into a participation of some advantages in commerce; and ordered the English ministers at the congress to tell them, that she would take her measures according to the return they should make on this occasion. Finding them still obstinately attached to their first chimerical preliminaries, she gave them to under stand that all her offers for adjusting the differences were founded upon the express condition, that they should come into her measures, and co-operate with her openly and sincerely; but they had made such bad returns to all her condescension towards them, that she looked upon herself as released from all engagements. The ministers of the allies had insisted upon a written answer to their specific demands; and this the French plenipotentiaries declined, until they should receive fresh instructions from their master. Such was the pretence for suspending the conferences; but the real bar to a final agreement between England and France, was the delay of Philip's renunciation, which at length however arrived, and produced a cessation of arms. THE DUKE OF ORMOND TAKES THE COM MAND OF THE BRITISH FORCES. In the meantime the duke of Ormond, who was now invested with the supreme command of the British forces, received a particular order that he should not hazard an engagement. Louis had already undertaken for the compliance of his grandson. Reflecting on his own great age, he was shocked at the prospect of leaving his kingdom involved in a pernicious war during a minority; and determined to procure a peace at all events. The queen, knowing his motives, could not help believing his protestations, and resolved to avoid a battle, the issue of which might have considerably altered the situation of affairs, and consequently retarded the conclusion of the treaty. Preparations had been made for an early campaign. In the beginning of March the earl of Albemarle, having assembled a body of thirty-six battalions, marched towards Arras, which he reduced to a heap of ashes by a most terrible cannonading and bombardment. In May the duke of Ormond conferred with the deputies of the states-general at the Hague, and assured them that he had orders to act vigorously in the prosecution of the war. He joined prince Eugene at Tournay, and on the twenty-sixth day of May, the allied army proximity of blood, more concerned than any other in passing the Schelde, encamped at Haspre and Solemnes. the reputation of the duke of Ormond; and therefore The Imperial general proposed that they should attack | could not help expressing his surprise, that any one the French army under Villars; but by this time the would dare to make a nobleman of the first rank, and duke was restrained from hazarding a siege or battle; a so distinguished a character, the instrument of such circumstance well known to the French commander, proceedings. Earl Paulet answered, that nobody could who therefore abated of his usual vigilance. It could doubt the duke of Ormond's courage; but he was not not be long concealed from prince Eugene and the dep- like a certain general, who led troops to the slaughter uties, who forthwith despatched an express to their prin- to cause a great number of officers to be knocked on the cipals on this subject, and afterwards presented a long head, that he might fill his pockets by disposing of their memorial to the duke, representing the injury which commissions. The duke of Marlborough was so deeply the grand alliance would sustain from his obedience of affected by this reflection, that though he suppressed such an order. He seemed to be extremely uneasy at his resentment in the house, he took the first opporhis situation; and in a letter to secretary St. John, ex-tunity to send lord Mohun to the earl with a message, pressed a desire that the queen would permit him to re-importing, that he should be glad to come to an explanturn to England. ation with his lordship about some expressions he had Prince Eugene, notwithstanding the queen's order, used in that day's debate; and desiring his company to which Ormond had not yet formally declared, invested take the air in the country. The earl understood his the town of Quesnoy, and the duke furnished towards meaning; but could not conceal his emotion from the this enterprise seven battalions and nine squadrons of observation of his lady, by whose means the affair was the foreign troops maintained by Great Britain. The communicated to the earl of Dartmouth, secretary of Dutch deputies at Utrecht expostulating with the bishop state. Two sentinels were immediately placed at his of Bristol upon the duke's refusing to act against the lordship's gate: the queen, by the canal of lord Dartenemy, that prelate told them that he had lately re-mouth, desired the duke of Marlborough would proceed ceived an express, with a letter from her majesty, in which she complained, that, as the states-general had not properly answered her advances, they ought not to be surprised if she thought herself at liberty to enter into separate measures in order to obtain a peace for her own conveniency. When they remonstrated against such conduct as contradictory to all the alliances subsisting between the queen and the states-general, the bishop declared his instructions further imported, that considering the conduct of the states towards her majesty, she thought herself disengaged from all alliances and engagements with their high mightinesses. The states and the ministers of the allies were instantly in commotion. Private measures were concerted with the elector of Hanover, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and some other princes of the empire, concerning the troops belonging to those powers in the pay of Great Britain. The states-general wrote a long letter to the queen, and ordered their envoy at London to deliver it into her own hand. Count Zinzendorf, the emperor's plenipotentiary, despatched expresses to his master, to prince Eugene, and to the Imperial ambassador at London. The queen held a council at Kensington upon the subject of the letter; and a fresh order was sent to the duke of Ormond, directing him to concur with the general of the allies in a siege. no farther in the quarrel; and he assured her he would punctually obey her majesty's commands. The earl of Oxford assured the house, that a separate peace was never intended; that such a peace would be so base, so knavish, and so villanous, that every one who served the queen knew they must answer it with their heads to the nation; but that it would appear to be a safe and glorious peace, much more to the honour and interest of the nation, than the first preliminaries insisted upon by the allies. The question being put for adjourning, was, after a long debate, carried in the affirmative; but twenty lords entered a protest. The earl of Strafford, who had returned from Holland, proposed that they should examine the negotiations of the Hague and Gertruydenburgh, before they considered that of Utrecht. He observed, that in the former negotiations the French ministers had conferred only with the pensionary, who communicated no more of it to the ministers of the allies than what was judged proper to let them know; so that the Dutch were absolute masters of the secret. asserted that the states-general had consented to give Naples and Sicily to king Philip; a circumstance which proved that the recovery of the whole Spanish monarchy was looked upon as impracticable. He concluded with a motion for an address to her majesty, desiring that the papers relating to the negotiations of the Hague and Gertruydenburgh should be laid before the house. This was carried without a division. He On the twenty-eighth day of May, lord Halifax, in the house of peers, descanted upon the ill consequences of the duke's refusing to oo-operate with prince Eugene, In the house of commons Mr. Pulteney moved for an and moved for an address, desiring her majesty would address, acquainting her majesty that her faithful comorder the general to act offensively in concert with her mons were justly alarmed at the intelligence received allies. The treasurer observed, it was prudent to avoid from abroad, that her general in Flanders had declined a battle on the eve of a peace, especially considering acting offensively against France in concurrence with they had to do with an enemy so apt to break his word. her allies; and beseeching her majesty that he might The earl of Wharton replied, this was a strong reason receive speedy instructions to prosecute the war with for keeping no measures with such an enemy. When the utmost vigour. This motion was rejected by a Oxford declared that the duke of Ormond had received great majority. A certain member having insinuated orders to join the allies in a siege, the duke of Marl- that the present negotiation had been carried on in a borough affirmed it was impossible to carry on a siege without either hazarding a battle, in case the enemy should attempt to relieve the place, or shamefully abandoning the enterprise. The duke of Argyle having declared his opinion, that since the time of Julius Cæsar there had not been a greater captain than prince Eugene of Savoy, observed, that, considering the different interests of the house of Austria and of Great Britain, it might not consist with prudence to trust him with the management of the war, because a battle won or lost might entirely break off a negociation of peace, which in all probability was near being concluded. He added, that two years before, the confederates might have taken Arras and Cambray, instead of amusing themselves with the insignificant conquests of Aire, Bethune, and St. Venant. The duke of Devonshire said he was, by VOL. II. clandestine and treacherous manner, Mr. secretary St. John said, he hoped it would not be accounted treachery to act for the good and advantage of Great Britain; that he gloried in the small share he had in the transaction; and whatever censure he might undergo for it, the bare satisfaction of acting in that view would be a sufficient recompence and comfort to him during the whole course of his life. The house resolved, that the commons had an entire confidence in her majesty's promise, to communicate to her parliament the terms of the peace before it should be concluded; and that they would support her against all such persons, either at home or abroad, as should endeavour to obstruct the pacification. The queen thanked them heartily for this resolution, as being dutiful to her, honest to their country, and very seasonable at a time when so many arti 2 A fices were used to obstruct a good peace, or to force one | disadavntageous to Britain. They likewise presented an address, desiring they might have an account of the negotiations and transactions at the Hague and Gertruydenburgh, and know who were then employed as her majesty's plenipotentiaries. PHILIP PROMISES TO RENOUNCE THE CROWN OF FRANCE. The ministry, foreseeing that Philip would not willingly resign his hopes of succeeding to the crown of France, proposed an alternative, that, in case of his preferring his expectation of the crown of France to the present possession of Spain, this kingdom, with the Indies, should be forthwith ceded to the duke of Savoy; that Philip, in the meantime, should possess the duke's hereditary dominions, and the kingdom of Sicily, together with Montserrat and Mantua; all which territories should be annexed to France at Philip's succession to that crown, except Sicily, which should revert to the house of Austria. Louis seemed to relish this expedient, which, however, was rejected by Philip, who chose to make the renunciation rather than quit the throne upon which he was established. The queen demanded that the renunciation should be ratified in the most solemn manner by the states of France; but she afterwards waived this demand, in consideration of its being registered in the different parliaments. Such forms are but slender securities against the power, ambition, and interest of princes. The marquis de Torcy frankly owned, that Philip's renunciation was of itself void, as being contrary to the fundamental laws and constitution of the French monarchy; but it was found necessary for the satisfaction of the English people. Every material article being now adjusted between the two courts, particularly those relating to the king of Spain, the commerce of Great Britain, and the delivery of Dunkirk, a suspension of arms prevailed in the Netherlands, and the duke of Ormond acted in concert with mareschal de Villars. kirk; to leave England in possession of Gibraltar, PortMahon, and the whole island of Minorca; to let the trade of Spain in the West Indies be settled as it was in the reign of his late catholic majesty; she signified that she had obtained for her subjects the assiento, or contract, for furnishing the Spanish West Indies with negroes for the term of thirty years, in the same manner as it had been enjoyed by the French. With respect to the allies, they declared, that France offered to make the Rhine the barrier of the empire; to yield Brisac, Fort Kehl, and Landau, and raze all the fortresses both on the other side of the Rhine, and in the islands of that river; that the protestant interest in Germany would be re-settled on the footing of the treaty of Westphalia; that the Spanish Netherlands, the kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia, the duchy of Milan, and the places belonging to Spain on the coast of Tuscany, might be yielded to his Imperial majesty; but the disposition of Sicily was not yet determined; that the demands of the statesgeneral with relation to commerce, and the barrier in the Low Countries, would be granted with a few exceptions, which might be compensated by other expedients; that no great progress had yet been made upon the pretensions of Portugal; but that those of Prussia would be admitted by France without much difficulty; that the difference between the barrier demanded by the duke of Savoy in the year one thousand seven hundred and nine, and that which France now offered, was very inconsiderable; that the elector palatine should maintain his present rank among the electors; and that France would acknowledge the electoral dignity in the house of Hanover. Such were the conditions which the queen hoped would make some amends to her subjects, for the great and unequal burden they had borne during the whole course of the war. She concluded with saying, she made no doubt but they were fully persuaded that nothing would be neglected on her part, in the progress of this negotiation, to bring the peace to a happy and speedy issue; and she expressed her dependence upon the entire confidence and cheerful concurrence of her parliament. An address of thanks and approbation was immediately voted, drawn up, and presented to the queen by THE QUEEN COMMUNICATES THE PLAN OF the commons in a body. When the house of lords took THE PEACE TO PARLIAMENT. On the sixth day of June, the queen going to the house of peers communicated the plan of peace to her parliament, according to the promise she had made. After having premised that the making peace and war was the undoubted prerogative of the crown, and hinted at the difficulties which had arisen both from the nature of the affair, and numberless obstructions contrived by the enemies of peace, she proceeded to enumerate the chief articles to which both crowns had agreed, without, however, concluding the treaty. She told them she had secured the protestant succession, which France had acknowledged in the strongest terms; and that the pretender would be removed from the French dominions; that the duke of Anjou should renounce for himself and his descendants all claim to the crown of France; so that the two monarchies would be for ever divided. She observed, that the nature of this proposal was such as would execute itself; that it would be the interest of Spain to support the renunciation; and in France, the persons entitled to the succession of that crown upon the death of the dauphin, were powerful enough to vindicate their own right. She gave them to understand that a treaty of commerce between England and France had been begun, though not yet adjusted; but provision was made, that England should enjoy the same privileges that France granted to the most favoured nation; that the French king had agreed to make an absolute cession of the island of St. Christopher's, which had hitherto been divided between the two nations, that he had also consented to restore the whole bay and straits of Hudson; to deliver the island of Newfoundland, with Placentia; to cede Annapolis, with the rest of Arcadia or Nova Scotia; to demolish the fortifications of Dun the speech into consideration, the duke of Marlborough asserted, that the measures pursued for a year past were directly contrary to her majesty's engagements with the allies; that they sullied the triumphs and glories of her reign, and would render the English name odious to all nations. The earl of Strafford said, that some of the allies would not have shown such backwardness to a peace, had they not been persuaded and encouraged to carry on the war by a member of that illustrious assembly, who maintained a secret correspondence with them, and fed them with hopes that they would be supported by a strong party in England. In answer to this insinuation against Marlborough, lord Cowper observed, that it could never be suggested as a crime in the meanest subject, much less in any member of that august assembly, to hold correspondence with the allies of the nation; such allies especially whose interest her majesty had declared to be inseparable from her own, in her speech at the opening of the session; whereas it would be a hard matter to justify and reconcile either with our laws, or with laws of honour and justice, the conduct of some persons in treating clandestinely with the common enemy without the participation of the allies. This was a frivolous argument. A correspondence with any persons whatsoever becomes criminal, when it tends to foment the divisions of one's country, and arm the people against their sovereign. If England had it not in her power, without infringing the laws of justice and honour, to withdraw herself from a confederacy which she could no longer support, and treat for peace on her own bottom, then was she not an associate but a slave to the alliance. The earl of Godolphin affirmed, that the trade to Spain was such a trifle as deserved no consideration; and that it would continually diminish until it should be entirely engrossed by the French merchants. Not |